NIA team visits Kufri to probe visit by Headley’s ex-wife

SHIMLA/NEW DELHI - Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited Himachal Pradesh’s Kufri town to track the footprints of Mumbai terror suspect David Coleman Headleys estranged Moroccan wife who is said to have made a reconnaissance trip to the state in 2008.

After visiting Manali late December, the investigating team made a stop at Kufri, another popular tourist resort on the outskirts of Shimla, to find out whether Faiza Outalha had stayed there.

The security agencies suspect that Outalha carried out reconnaissance of some places targeted by Mumbai attackers.

A Himachal Pradesh police official confirmed that NIA sleuths visited a popular resort in Kufri earlier this week to find whether Outalha spent time there.

The sleuths believe she also visited the Kalyani helipad and The Retreat, the summer holiday resort of the Indian president, on the outskirts of Shimla.

“The investigators have scrutinised and collected log books of the resort and recorded the statements of their staff members. They also visited The Retreat and examined the visitor’s book there,” the police official told IANS.

“Headley himself had never visited Manali but we understand that Outalha did. We are still in the process of collecting evidence,” said another intelligence official in New Delhi.

Last month, the team visited Manali to know whether Headley’s friends - an American couple along with Outalha - had visited the place to look at the Jewish centre in 2008.

The sleuths visited Chabad House, the Jewish centre located on the Club House Road in Manali, to inquire if Headley’s accomplices had visited there. It is believed that Outalha had met up with the American couple here.

“So far the investigators have not been able to lay hand on any concrete evidence, suggesting Outalha’s visit to towns in Himachal Pradesh,” said the official.

The Chabad House in Mumbai was a target in the November 2008 terror attack, in which more than 170 people were killed.